President Nicolas Sarkozy, in Africa with a team of French executives eager for deals, urged Congo and its former enemies on Thursday to launch a new partnership based on exploiting the regions natural riches. Sarkozys appeal in the Democratic Republic of Congo helped calm the anger of some Congolese who interpreted his call in January for the vast country to "share the wealth" of eastern provinces with neighbouring Rwanda as a slight on sovereignty.
"I have certainly not come to tell you what to do," Sarkozy told Congos parliament on the first visit by a French president in 25 years. "The truth is that the peoples of central Africa will not change their address, nor the laws of nature. If they cooperate as good neighbours, they will be rich and peaceful. But if it is survival of the strongest, they will remain poor and unhappy."
A tussle for mineral riches, as well as national and ethnic rivalries, fuelled over a decade of conflict in the region. Sarkozys delegation includes executives from firms keen to get contracts to rebuild a country devastated by long neglect as well as war. Frances state-controlled nuclear energy group Areva signed a uranium mining and prospecting deal with Congo.
Sarkozy commended Congolese President Joseph Kabila for reducing tensions with former enemies Uganda and Rwanda. Kabila has allowed soldiers from both countries, who fought against him alongside Congolese rebels in a 1998-2003 war, to hunt down rebel militia groups operating in the former Belgian colonys lawless eastern borderlands.
Opposition parliamentarian Thomas Luhaka said Sarkozy had made clear his comments in January were misunderstood. "I think it was very important to clear that up," he said.
Sarkozy is travelling with executives from groups including France Telecom, the worlds top cement maker Lafarge and Vinci, the biggest public works and transport concessions group, which is set to renovate Kinshasas airport. He crossed the Congo river by helicopter to Brazzaville, capital of the smaller Republic of Congo, a former French colony with longstanding business and political links to Paris. French companies, led by Total, dominate its oil industry. On Friday he will visit Niger, a major source of uranium for Areva, which is creating a huge new mine there.
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